


The Athena Program

by Dorfird



Category: Tiny Space Program
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, Matriarchy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25658692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorfird/pseuds/Dorfird
Summary: An alternate universe where most astronauts are women. Loosely inspired by the app Tiny Space Program. I've been writing a series of short fics which I will post here as separate chapters.





	1. The First Moon Landing

The atmosphere was tense. Reporters from Kismaayo and all over Africa waited out the countdown. Each time the count was paused, tension mounted. 

So much work had built towards this moment. The early satellite launches. The early piloted ships of the Ceres Program. And now, Athena 11 was to launch, putting a woman on the moon.

Finally, touchdown! The message everyone was waiting for crackled: "Athena to mission control, the _Daniel Pinkwater_ has landed."

After the scheduled rest period, the hatch opened. Beamed across the world, the flickering black and white image of Commander Valentina Tereshkova was watched by almost everyone as she stepped onto the moon's surface.

Her message crackled through the ether: "Today the moon, tomorrow the stars!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our timeline, Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space.


	2. The First Man on the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When all the astronauts so far are women, what's it like to be the first man on the moon?

Harrison Schmitt couldn't help but let a little bit of his excitement show. He'd spent years training astronauts in geology, so that they knew what they were looking at in the lunar regolith or the surface of Mars - but year after year, he was passed over when women (less qualified, he thought sometimes in his less charitable moments).  
Now, finally, Harrison (Jack, to his friends), had been assigned to a routine mission to the Moon, bringing supplies to expand the Moon base. Coincidence? He rather thought not. He gave himself a pep talk.

"You have a PhD from Harvard, brother college to the prestigious Radcliffe University. And you were one of only a few men in your class when you earned your Bachelor's of Science at Caltech.

"Your father always used to tell you: 'Men have to be twice as smart and work twice as hard as women to get the same recognition.' You've got the recognition. You've earned this."

The PA bleated: "Schmitty. Report to the _Splot_ for preflight checklist."

**********************************************

H. "Jack" Schmitt prepared for landing. Robin read down the checklist. Jack had practiced this many times in simulation, but this was his first time piloting. _The Big Orange Splot_ was a Pinkwater class spaceship that could be launched repeatedly, but it was the oldest one in the fleet. Probably why he was trusted with it. Robin's calm voice reading items from the checklist cut through Jack's dithering. Before long, they had touched down on the landing pad at Artemis Base. 

Robin and Jack finished sealing their spacesuits, and checked each other's work. Jack knew there wouldn't be many people watching back on Earth, so he hadn't planned a first sentence to be uttered by the first man on the Moon; he just climbed down the ladder. 

Stepping aside so Robin could descend, he bounced off the landing pad and knelt to collect rocks. 

Several minutes later, the first sentence spoken by a man on the Moon was - "Fascinating!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In our timeline, Harrison Schmitt was the first scientist on the moon, with the Apollo 17 mission (the last one to take humans to the moon so far). According to Wikipedia, he went by Jack and his education was as I describe. Since he lives in a matriarchy, he isn't addressed as Doctor or by his astronaut title, but by "Schmitty", which always bugs him a little.


	3. The First Man on the Moon, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> H. "Jack" Schmitt finally gets to the moon in a world where most astronauts are women.

All the rovers were out on missions as the women continued to explore and map the moon. But Jack had anticipated that. Robin unloaded the parts for a new rover while Jack was busy with lunar geology. But eventually the _Splot_ was unloaded and Robin had to interrupt.

"Sir?"

Jack looked up. He was seated nearby, surrounded by piles and piles of rock samples.

"Eh?"

"Could you help assemble the rover? I wasn't trained in that."

"Oh... right!"

Jack bounded to his feet, inadvertently jumping into the air in the light gravity. He experimented with locomotion as Robin led him over to where the cargo lay. This led to a few missteps. Robin enjoyed watching: Jack was a bit like a puppy. But he was all business when it came to the rover.

Robin and Jack worked efficiently. Jack explained the parts of the task that weren't immediately obvious to Robin: he'd drilled on rover assembly repeatedly during astronaut training and preparation for this mission. At the same time, Robin had been studying hydroponics, low-G smelting, and fuel transfer.

Together, the two soon had the rover assembled. Robin double-checked that the internal atmosphere wouldn't leak out and that there was enough oxygen loaded. Then Jack headed out for two hours of blissfully uninterrupted geological research.


End file.
